The Metebelis Two - a Doctor Who podcast

This week we pay our respects to Terrance Dicks, the script editor and writer, who made such an enormous impact on Doctor Who and, in turn, our lives. From Target novelisations, to script editing, to original stories, Terrance Dicks was the quintessential professional who lent credibility to every Who-related project he was associated with. Also please donate to Save the Children, in memory of Ter...

The Metebelis Two discuss the Pertwee stories that fell in the lower half of the last Doctor Who Magazine (#474) reader's poll and why these stories may deserve reappraisal. With nine stories in all to cover, Ben and David question whether fan wisdom is right on these "lesser" Pertwee outings. Along the way, Ben admires the great man's wardrobe and David pitches the Master's Companions Chronicles...

The concluding episode of the Metebelis Two's three-part celebration of the Jon Pertwee centenary focusing on seasons 9 through 11. Ben explains how first reading Target novilisations made the actual viewing of the stories a bit anticlimatic. BBC productions values of the early 1970s could not compete with the vivid memories of an 8-year-old's imagination, Ingrid Pitt's costume in The Time Monster...

This is the second episode of our three-part Jon Pertwee centenary celebration. We begin by discussing Pertwee's career post-Who and wonder about Worzel Gummidge. What was the appeal for Jon and the audience? We briefly touch upon his recording career and his tenure as a quiz show host. (Ben, fiercely loyal to Pertwee as Doctor Who, boycotted it all!) Then we begin a retrospective of seasons 7 and...

In this, the first of our three-part Jon Pertwee centenary celebration, we talk about the man who played the Third Doctor and his legacy. Ben notes that Pertwee's Doctor is the first Time Lord and contrasts Pertwee's aristocratic portrayal of the Doctor to the more working-class character of the Doctor that Patrick Troughton gave. David comments on how there is a Pertwee revival now happening in f...

The Metebelis Two Ace retrospective continues this week with a discussion about The Genocide Machine, which was the second Big Finish release to feature Ace. The story is very reminiscent of a Terry Nation story with all that entails. So, a jungle planet with Daleks and rather one-dimensional supporting characters. With the Daleks return for the first time since Remembrance was this story able to...

We continue our journey with Ace and Doctor Who after the programme ended on BBC One with The Fearmonger. Written by Jonathan Blum and released by Big Finish in 2000, this story is quite relevant to the political climate of today with its anti-immigrant politics and increasingly mainstream fascism. Upon its release, Ben recalls that it seemed a bit farfetched, but giving it a fresh listen to now 1...

With Doctor Who in seemingly perpetual hiatus at the BBC, how were fans supposed to get their next fix? Well, the Virgin New Adventures, of course! Ben and David leap back in time to the fag end of Thatcher's Britain and talk about Love and War, Paul Cornell's 1992 novel featuring Ace and introducing Bernice Summerfield. What captured Ben's fancy so long ago that he bought the book? And, why did D...

This week The Metebelis Two remember the Doctor Who contributions of Paul Darrow and Stephen Thorne , both men, who recently have passed into the Matrix. Then discussion about the auction of colour set and behind-the-scenes photographs of The Power of the Daleks taken by its designer, Derek Dodd; the just announced animation of The Faceless Ones ; the Jon Pertwee centenary ; and Judoon returning t...

There's nothing wrong with Perivale. Ben theorizes that Rona Munro is channeling the myth of Herne the Hunter as inspiration for the Cheetah people revealing the magic that is hidden in suburban London. Not so much the Cockney urchin that Ace likes to pretend she is, the trip back to Perivale reveals that she perhaps is a spoiled middle class kid whose making a big deal about not much of anything....

We podcast again time lord! We've reached the penultimate story in the classic series as we continue on with our Ace retrospective. The Two discover how the Ultima machine could be carried aboard a Russian rubber boat, but get confused about Fenric's bottle and find the Ancient One a tad too cuddly while Ace's awkward attempts of seduction is a bit more scary. Green goo, vikings, vampires, and Eng...

What do the Metebelis Two make of the last classic Who story ever to be recorded? Is Ghost Light the complex, bewildering puzzle that received fan wisdom would have it, or is it just a rewrite and an episode short of brilliance? The Two speculate on why Nimrod, the Neanderthal butler, could have been a great companion for the Doctor and how dramatising some flashbacks for Ace could strengthen the...

There will be no podcast today! Heh, hardly! This week the Metebelis Two review Battlefield, the season opener in the last season of classic Who. Once again Ben Aaronovitch does as pastiche of the Pertwee era inspired by Camelot 3000. He introduces as mysterious scabbard that, unlike Chekhov's gun, never returns after the first part. This is the story where the Brig was supposed to die. Instead, d...

The Metebelis Two find themselves on the planet Segonax to visit the Psychic Circus. A wide ranging discussion this week on interstellar junk mail, clowns in hearsts, lucking out with a big tent, Lovejoy, werefoxes, fandom, the Doctor's character, and more! Opening and closing music is by Mark Ayers from his score for The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.

It's a Metebelis Twofer this week! First up, Ben and David review the new animation of The Macra Terror and discuss what it means now that Macra exist. The Two the release suitable for ming-mongs of all tastes. The second half is a podcast that was going to be the ol' Metebelis look at The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, which would have been part of our Ace retrospective, but David derailed Ben from...

In this episode, Ben and David try to sort out the mess that is Silver Nemesis. In what seemingly has become a Metebelis Two tradition, the two try to pitch story alternatives to improve upon this 25th anniversary story. This is story is a grab bag of a bit of everything from straight-blowing Jazz to black magic to the boys of Brazil to mysterious chess games to Cybermen to aging starlets, but wha...

Ben and David talk about Scratchman! It has been over forty years since Tom Baker and Ian Marter had lunch in the pub and came up with the idea for a Doctor Who movie in which our hero would battle the Devil. Does the novel based on these boozy mid-1970s ideas that Tom wrote with James Goss hold up? How does it compare to what has been previously published about the script? Listen in as David disc...

Ben and David are glad to visit Terra Alpha to see the Candyman. Will happiness prevail? Ben is reminded of the many student plays he saw during the 1980s with minimalist sets, elaborate costumes, and hints of Kafka mixed with a rather subtly riff on Thatcher in this 1988 story. David, for his part, can barely remember watching this in 1990 and finds in this rewatch the story is better than the li...

In this flashback podcast, the Metebelis Two discuss Ace's second story, Remembrance of the Daleks. From a strong B-movie opening to crane lowering Dalek shuttle crafts into the courtyard of Coal Hill School to the wobbly Dalek battle in the streets of London, Ben and David share their thoughts on this classic McCoy story from 1988 set in London, 1963. Spoiler though, Ben is firmly in the Renegade...

A tired Ben and David recount and reflect on their first GallifreyOne experience. Recorded Sunday night in a room at the convention hotel a few hours after the closing ceremony. Opening music is "Kerblam" and closing music is "Made a New Friend", both composed by Segun Akinola for Series 11 of Doctor Who.

This week the Metebelis Two are a bit distracted by our upcoming trip to Los Angeles for Gallifrey One 30, so Ben and David discuss the convention, the panels they're on, and what they hope to see. Plus, they talk about their exclusive, collectable blue "Metebelis Two" ribbons. Opening music from "Escape and Recapture" by Geoffrey Burgon from the "Seeds of Doom" soundtrack. Closing music is "This...

So Dragonfire: Ace's debut story with more Glitz action then you thought possible. Ben and David share their thoughts about Ian Brigg's first Doctor Who story and explain what worked for them and what didn't. Poor Mel. We hardly knew you. Is Doctor Who: The Unfolding Text the best book to give a new writer for the show? And why would an ice vampire open a frozen food store on a moon he was exiled...

If you can remember the 1980s, you weren’t really there... and this week Ben and David try to prove they really were part of the 1980s. Ben and David try to recall memories of Doctor Who through the JN-T era when they were busy with their young adult lives and not so interested in their favourite show. Is there a connection between tele-fantasy and sci-fi? Is playing Dungeons & Dragons a prerequis...

A bit introspective this week as Ben and David talk about watching Doctor Who during times when the show is not much to their liking. Prompted by Ben finally purchasing the DVD for Time and the Rani and a listener asking why do we still watch if Series 11 wasn't much to our liking? Ben takes a paternalistic view of Who and David reflects on what first got him hooked on Who during Tom Baker's run o...

Ben and David conclude that Resolution was the true finale to series 11. Great to watch on News Year Day, but the wheels begin to fall off the bus upon subsequent viewings. Great one-off design on a Dalek. Dalek-controlled Lin also gets high marks from the lads. Discussion on moving from a crowded TARDIS to the overflowing TARDIS. Is Chibnall writing the Doctor as a 'scold'? More horror about the...